The notorious hardman from Kenton Bar, committed a string of high profile post office robberies and bank raids across Tyneside over 40 years.

As a member of Newcastle’s crime ridden underworld of the 1960s, he drank in the same bars and nightclubs frequented by the Kray brothers when they visited Tyneside.

But close friend Michael McGarvie, 41, who is comforting Mario’s devastated family, said: “He did change his life around.

“He was one of life’s characters and one of the staunchest men in Newcastle.” Mario, whose real first name was John, laid bare his crimes in his self-published 2009 autobiography, The Geordie Godfather And The Boy From Barnardo’s.

He described how he fell into criminality after an abusive childhood at a children’s home in County Durham.

By his twenties, he was committing robberies and raids across the country with his trademark use of explosives to blow open safes.

He met with London gangster Charlie Richardson, shared jail time with safe cracker George Reynolds and at Durham Prison was put in the cell next to Michael Luvaglio, the convicted killer of businessman Angus Sibbett in South Hetton, County Durham.

In 1964, he achieved notoriety after becoming the first man to escape from Durham Prison in 102 years. The police manhunt for him was reported extensively in the Evening Chronicle at the time.

By the 1980s, he had settled down to a quieter life with his wife and her two children, and two of his children from a previous relationship.

The drug scene had also come to dominate crime in the region and Mario claimed in his book that it was not a world he wanted to be part of.

Friend Michael said: “There will be a huge funeral for him, there will be quite a show. A lot of people will come to pay their respects.

“He died surrounded by his family and they are upset, but they are dealing with it.

“He was comical and a good character, and told us all many tales.”

In his book, he also claimed that most of his cash was given away to friends, families and needy neighbours.

His generosity won him the nickname Robbing Dude.

Friend and film maker Steve Wraith interviewed Mario for his documentary When The Krays Came To Town, where he described the era the Kray brothers’ visited Newcastle.

“He was part of the 1960s Newcastle scene. He drank in The Dolce Vita nightclub where The Gate is now, when every night was party night, and the wives and girlfriends were there.

“But he was a loner, not a gangster. He was always careful not to be seen. He wasn’t out to create a legend. He was reclusive and would keep out of the limelight.”

Steve also remembers Mario’s blow-by-blow accounts of his dramatic escape from prison in Durham in December 1964. It was a story that dominated the press at the time.

Mario had been jailed for attacking a police officer and breaking into offices in Spital Tongues.

Steve said: “He made his escape dressed as a woman wearing a skirt, he was wearing women’s clothes to get out. He had so many tales.”

Mario is also survived by 10 grandchildren, two sisters and his brother Harry, from whom he was separated as baby.

Many of his family still live in Kenton. His funeral is expected to take place on Tuesday.

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